Paxtradings Crypto Minute: June 14, 2018

Research from University of Texas Suggests That Tether May Have Been Used to Manipulate Cryptocurrency Market

According to Reuters, a recently published research paper from the University of Texas concluded that Tether may have been used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange that shares executives with Tether, has denied that Tether issuances could be used to manipulate the market price of Bitcoin. In December 2017, the CFTC sent subpoenas to Tether and Bitfinex, although the reason for the subpoena was not disclosed.

Thailand’s SEC Likely to Approve Only One Out of Fifty ICOs

According to the Bangkok Post, Thai authorities are likely to approve only five out of every 50 ICO registration applications. Thawatchai Kiatkwankul, the Commission’s Director of Corporate Finance in the SEC’s equity department stated, “Out of 50 ICO projects expecting to raise funds from the Thai capital market, five are ready as initial pilot projects.” According to new regulations from Thailand’s SEC, ICO issuers, digital exchanges, brokers, and dealers involved cryptocurrencies must register with the SEC within 90 days of the ICO start date or the effective date of its new regulatory framework.

Western Union CEO Claims Ripple’s Network Has Yet to Reduce Costs

In an interview with Fortune at the Economic Club of New York, Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek claimed Ripple’s product, xRapid, has yet to reduce operational costs for his company. Ersek acknowledged that his company is still experimenting with Ripple’s product, which uses XRP to transfer money between foreign currencies. “We are always criticized that Western Union is not cost-efficient, blah blah blah, but we did not see that part of the efficiency yet during our tests,” Ersek said. He also added that the company would adopt Ripple for payments only if it lower the company’s costs.